The last live Golden Road as everyone mentions. But it’s really really hard listening to Golden Road live, I love it so much. Golden Road (To Unlimited Devotion) is a two minute, balls-to-the-wall, hypersonic missile of youth and masculine testosterone that always comes close to being an out-of-control mess with every attempt. The song reminds me allot of what jet airplanes go through trying to break the sound barrier. I feel personally, they only broke that barrier once in the studio for their first album. And I just can’t listen to any of the live versions. I WANT that shock wave. I NEED that shock wave of controlled quality! All other live versions never could break 770 MPH - shuddering - to then break up and explode into a million pieces.

I can appreciate everyone lauding over Golden Road. It is a masterpiece. But their needs to be a little control of the vocal and/or recording instruments to get the plane’s wings past Mach 1. I have to honestly admit that this version is a good one. But the sound quality is low with the SBD being a bit oversaturated and distorted. And that’s a damn shame. Because if the board had been better, I would have kept it, adding some reverb to soften Jerry’s very up-front vocals. New Potato and Alligator do not have this distortion problem, so I kept them.

This is a priceless half hour of Grateful Dead music. It's a true time capsule that shows how great they already were just a couple years into the game. There are lengthy passages in New Potato Caboose and Alligator where Weir topples crafty chords into Phil's mashing bass line in a fashion that would soon make them world famous. Kreutzmann's artistic drumming is fantastic, and Pigpen's organ work gives a subtle, half rhythmic, half melodic warmth to the show. And then there's a young Jerry Garcia, already conjuring up some of the finest guitar work people would ever hear. That first solo in He Was A Friend of Mine is pure brilliance, and it's a shame we can't hear the full song, because they were really carrying the jam into a beautiful space. 50+ years later, 5/5/67 never gets old - classic shows like this one are still in their own special league. I wish we had the full show, but something about the brevity of this recording adds to the charm. The banter, the excitement, and the novelty of 5/5/67 make it essential listening for anyone interested in this era!

One day before I was born an mom was in labor. Just right around the corner so at SF children's hospital. Thanks for that spark and extra energy and light. It was a magical time to be born and to be alive.
NO my love will not fade away!
member of the heart of gold band.

This is awesome for even that factor, not to mention everything is played great and the sound is good and it’s super groovy.

The FINAL live performance of ‘The Golden Road (To Unlimited Devotion)’ by The Grateful Dead, right here!

My parents remember seeing them in SF around this time and my father remembered that one of the Dead said there was a narc in the audience. Sure enough this is it, gotta love archive.org.

Also, they said the show was at the Avalon with the Jefferson Airplane, but they're probably confusing it with another show.

As someone who was barely a toddler before Jerry passed, I know I don't have the 'repertoire' of live dead shows that many of you have seen. However, as a musician and an AVID dead head this is one of those shows that you sit back close your eyes and smile... "if you get it"... I can feel the raw energy and it gives me goosebumps - the high paced Golden Road into a face-melting Potato is just unbelievable. Such a priceless gem that I feel so lucky to have been able to hear.
You know its a gem of a show when you can genuinely feel yourself there - through space and time - watching the boys tear it up!!
Much love and peace to all my friends!

P.s - if anyone is looking to download theres https://addons.mozilla.org/en-us/firefox/addon/flash-video-downloader/?src=search which you can add-on to Mozilla and it rips the audio and downloads it right to your computer!

Goodluck and if anyone needs help just email b.priddy @ Umiami . edu

This was one of the first tapes I ever had, & I remember traveling with it on summer tour in '89 & wowing people with it. Today it remains one of my favorite shows to hear, regardless of what date or event it actually was. The "Alligator" in particular is one of my favorites, a very funky rendition. The banter is also terrifyingly stoned and hilarious.

Golden Road and Alligator are quite good.

Is there a way to still download these songs on mp3? I remember that used to be the case.

Are they just for streaming now?

many thanks!

No, not an Acid Test. Skipped quite a chunk of time since the last show appears on Archive. Again, not a great recording, but it sure does the job. Rumors of some of the songs belonging to 1967-09-29 (Mickey's first show), which have fallen short of evidence... I don't hear Mickey, but that's just me. Could also belong to a different date entirely, but this is obviously the best theory so far.

Most sources point to He Was A Friend Of Mine occurring after Alligator, so that's the order I'll use. Also rumors of the infamous 2 hour Alligator>Caution, but more lack of evidence seeing as the song has a "clear" ending (as great as this Alligator may be). A great Phil recording anyhow.

So my version of this tape had it listed at the U of Oregon........I guess not. That always did seem strange.

I got it off a reel to reel from a friend who's brother is supposed to be in the picture on Aoxomoxoa and who Cosmic Charlie is named for (but I doubt it). Though for what its worth, that same friend had a Phil bass circa 72 or so that I saw with my own eyes.

My song progression was Golden Road > New Potato > Alligator > He Was..

It is an amzing tape that opens up a view in to a world that few of us saw. Personally, I was 1 yo when this stuff was done, living in of all places Lucas Valley in Marin County.

I listened to this just yesterday as I was driving my mom's old car that only has a tape deck (and yet only 38k miles). The tranistion in to New is simply amazing.....just a sign of everything else yet to come.

The big question for me is where did they get the idea to do that???? Connect one sont to another via improvisation. Improv was big in Jazz, but not from song to song. Never has been.

Uniquely American and uniquely Grateful Dead.

Great little show. Incredible NPC and Alligator. Alaways good to hear a Golden Road... retired way too early.

is it just me or are the best potato's from '67-mid '68?

no..ok good. dripping show, wheeeew!

one of the few circulating, golden roads to unlimited devoltion, very good sound for a show thats this old.
also to answer oh um oh ah statement about bill sommers being on drums, bill sommers is bill kruetzman, the story is that bill somers was the name he used on his fake id, he was called bill sommers a few times live, by either bill graham or members of the band on various dates.

I agree with others that this show is not from May '67. Finding the right date, though, is trickier...
It's definitely not 9/29/67 (with Mickey Hart) as the oldest rumors claimed! But it's also not from early in the year.

Alligator, I believe debuted in June, and this is similar to the other early versions from 6/18, 8/4, 9/3 and 9/15 - it starts with Jerry's guitar intro, not with the drum intro that Mickey Hart added. (It also resembles the 8/4 and 9/3 Alligators in that it stops without going into Caution.)
New Potato, this is just a hunch, but I think this performance is more developed than the 8/4/67 New Potato - I think 8/4 is the earliest New Potato we have, since it has a much shorter jam.
So I'd speculate that "5/5/67" is actually from August/September '67 sometime. There aren't enough songs here to really pin it down, though.

In any case, this short show is awesome, a must-hear.

I was at the Cafe Au Go Go gig in NYC in the first week of June 67, I'm not sure of the exact date. But I can confirm that they played "Golden Road" there, opening the first set of the night.

This tape doesn't sound like it could be from May 67, since they weren't playing any of the material that showed up on Anthem of the Sun yet. The closing number for that set was Schoolgirl.

Someone has mentioned that Alligator debuted during that gig. Maybe so, but I didn't hear it.

`

~^|\_@|@_/|^~
~<->/<->\<->~

Where were you on May 5, 1967?

I couldn't be there in 67' but I showed up today...where were you?

Forty two years ago today, somewhere in San Francisco...the hippies forgot to write the date on this tape recording of the GRATEFUL DEAD.

Since no one knows for sure what day this is, it seems it was assigned today's date.

The "DeadLists Project" link
has posters for this show that say the Fillmore Auditorium May 5 & 6.

Amazing recording for its age...and history.

Could the drummer for this show be Bill Summers?

Bill Graham introduced the GRATEFUL DEAD on November 19, 1966 at the Fillmore Auditorium(before it was called the Fillmore West, because there was no Fillmore East at the time) with Bill Summers on the drums.

Check it out: http://www.archive.org/details/gd1966-11-19.sbd.miller.94106.sbeok.flac16

This sounds like a very early version of "Alligator" to me. There are parts in this version that were dropped on later versions.

"Golden Road To Devotion" is a classic.

I don't think Bill Kreutzman is playing the drums I think it's Bill Summers. What do I know?

I think you should add this show to your 1967 GRATEFUL DEAD collection.

The IA recommends users of Windows XP view this web-page with RealPlayer. RealPlayer is a free media player you can download at www.realplayer.com.

For easy streaming or downloading use RealPlayer. Click the VBR M3U link to open the songs in the Playlist. If your Playlist is not open, open it by clicking the Playlist icon at the lower right hand corner of RealPlayer. Once the songs are in the Playlist, double click the song to play it, then click the record button at the lower left hand corner of Realplayer to record it. When the red line reaches the other end click the stop button to download the song. Your song is in the RealPlayer Downloads folder. Repeat these steps for each song.

Eat, Drink, Be Merry and Listen to the GRATEFUL DEAD.

Thanks for the love from 1967.

Dude, Bill Sommers IS Bill Kreutzmann!

What a great Alligator with nice organ whizzing and whirling in the background. I was curious about how the real date of this could be ascertained. Some people say, "it's definitely not this or that date." I'm not challenging that at all, just earnestly wondering how one goes about checking and verifying date that even Deadbase can't verify. I wonder if there are payroll or payment receipts logged somewhere that could be checked. But I suppose the organization wasn't there back in the early days. Great gem of a show anyway.

This show has a date of 5/5/67, but most likely from some other date. The setlist was listed in Deadbase as "Straight Theatre 9/29/67" but there is not evidence that it is accurate either.

i just want to add that the song order seems to be a little wrong. If you listen carefully to the very end of alligator it sounds the same as the beginning of "he was a friend of mine"

 

I have looked into this one, and it appears to be 9-29-67 Straight Theatre (San Fran.) Certainly not 5-05-67.

Stage banter quickly reveals the state of mind them boys were in.

And said state of mind was conducive to some great tuneskies. Check this short but sweet one out.

There are an infinite number of impossibly great moments in this piece but from 8:00 on we have the definition of More Than Human. Listen to it. Try to believe it. I dare you.

Travus T Hipp (Laughlin) used to bring bands to the Red Dog Saloon in Virginia City NV. He's lived out that way for over 40 years. He is a journalist and is on KPIG radio and another station, out of the Reno area, with a morning news commentary. I highly doubt this show is from May '67. I had this tape years ago, but it was unlabled. My best guess is August or early Sept, as there's no Mickey. Would also make sense with the song selection and the progression of Caboose & Alligator. The Kings Beach shows would make sense, as it's in Travus' nearby vicinity. I haven't seen Red Dog Saloon listed in deadbase or deadlists, yet supposedly they played there also.

Also of note, just this past month, Travus T Hipp's house was raided by Lyon County NV sheriff's, where they seized 4 oz of pot, some peyote (which he claimed to have had for years) and a hand gun. He is 70 years old.

I write this on the 40th anniversary of the Summer of Love from the Haight, now a very different place than it was then. There are vestiges, such as the Sunday tribal gatherings at Hippy Hill in Golden Gate Park, but the 710 Ashbury crashpad sold for several million a few years ago.

But during that Summer, a local band called Dead were not yet national rock stars, but people waking up to what was happing, coming here in droves and hearing this band that played like nothing they ever heard.

This recording epitomizes that Summer. The stage remarks (“I just saw a narc down in the audience”) and the outbursts of the second cut reveal the state of mind they were in, probably the same as the audience, as someone below pointed out. After some wild banter they go into a tight version of Golden Road. Not too many live recordings of the Golden Road, and this is a great one. Goes to show that they had a lot of practice of playing while tripping. The vocals are amazingly on key as well.

The psychedelic ensemble jamming is incredible, intense, exciting, and not repetitive. They play as one unit, all equal partners, not dominated by Jerry: Bill, Jerry, even Pigpen who is just amazing on keyboards here, and Phil, who is on fire the way that all but disappeared after ‘74.

This recording may be a remnant of a longer show, or this may be the entire set of a night of music shared with Quicksilver Messenger Service, Jefferson Airplane, and Moby Grape. The remarkable thing was that unlike these other bands, the Dead lasted beyond the Summer by innovation and changing and growing as musicians, lasting 27 more years. But this Summer of Love show is more than a time capsule, as it stands the test of time.

Hey Im Daniel from Sweden.First time im writing a review on this great site!!This show is a blast.Alligator rocks soooo groovy!Garcia in those days played with such fire!He could play circles around anybody!!I also think that the 3-part harmony blend of Jerry,Bob and Phil inthose days up until 73 was awesome..Listen to He was a friend..Great singing..God i wish a concert like this from 67 was filmed!!!i would be great to see some more eraly footage of the band..The only rare thing ive seen from 67 is Viola lee blues from Monterey!!

cheers everybody

my 2¢ worth . . .

Pretty good little (portion of a?) show! Apparently it's not known what the whole setlist consisted of. Luckily four songs, almost 40 years later, exist for us to groove on and enjoy today.

He Was A Friend Of Mine opens this recording on a nice, mellow note. If this was somehow the first song in the show and someone was seeing the Dead for their first time, wow, they'd have no clue what they were in for! Friend Of Mine cuts off near the end and cuts into the band in between numbers, bantering probably under the influence of, well . . . items of interest to those seeking hallucinogenic enlightenment. That fun couple of minutes goes into a nearly lightning fast but sweet Golden Road.

The first notes of New Potato kick in as Golden Road comes to a close and we soon hear Bobby yell out, "This number's for Laughlin."

Now, after a little internet research, I found nothing to tell me definitively who this Laughlin person is. Closest I can figure the name refers possibly to a 60's Bay Area guy named Chandler A. Laughlin a.k.a. Travus T. Hipp.

Back in that era Laughlin helped open the Cabale Creamery on San Pablo Ave. in Berkeley. In early '66 the Dead had a show scheduled there but it was cancelled. Later the Cabale became the Questing Beast where the Dead may or may not have rehearsed. Once upon a time a tape was in circulation labeled "Questing Beast" but it's since been determined that those sessions are from another date and location. Interestingly, The Beast closed down on May 9, right about the time the May 5th Fillmore show was thought (but not definitively known) to have taken place . . . uh, except The Beast is said to have closed in '66 (according to www.chickenonaunicycle.com) and this show is from '67. Hmmm.

Okay, so perhaps Bobby's shout out to Laughlin is for the following (which appears on www.fatchance.org) -- "Chased across the Mexican border twice by the FBI for subversive associations and drugs, and back once by the Federales of that noble nation for somewhat the same reasons, Hipp finally fell afoul the law and was doing a short term of county time when he was bailed out by the legendary Tom Donahue to go to work for KMPX, America's premier FM rock station in 1967."

Until I ask around some more and maybe find out from someone who knows, the true meaning of Laughlin will remain a mystery to me.

In any case, the Golden Road segue into New Potato Caboose is almost as quiet and mellow as He Was a Friend of Mine, really not at all indicitive of what's to come. On a down side, the vocals in the mix are almost lost behind the music, almost a little muddy. Thankfully, it's not the vocals that I'm listening for! Once the lyrics are done with, at about the three minute mark, the song quickly picks up a ton of steam and blasts so well into a cataclysmic atomic shebang. While the vocals aren't all there, the smile on my face along with the feeling I had made me fully aware the music is all there!!!

Alligator rolls forward in a very similar fashion. Once the seemingly half-hidden vocals are out of the way after the first few minutes of the song, the music picks up some intense primitive Dead strength cranking into the final screams of "Allligatorrrrrrrrrrr . . . Alligatorrrrrrr," it's clear what a contrast the last two songs are in comparison to the first.

Great audio quality for the era and seeing as how there's so little '67 Dead to listen to, this is 31 minutes to be nothing less than treasured.

This is the sort of stuff that made me fall in love with the Dead. Things really get cookin' on the New Potato > Alligator.

Got the golden road/new potato as filler on one of my fisrt boots about 20 years ago, always wondered where it was from. Not hard to see how the band/audience morph developed when you hear track #2 and know that they were in the same shape as the folks who came to the show. Twisted stand-up routine. Sound quality is at least half way down the basement steps but for a young rock and roll band they have a wolfpack attacking bambi intensity that must have scared the hell out of some people. By this time they could probably predict the precise moment when someone in the crowd would lose their hinges. Alligator is tight and even has barks and yelps at the end.

Once again another gem. Who listens to this band and still "don't git it". Way ahead of everything else out there in 67.I've always liked the band better without Mickey. I love Mickey but he probably kept Kreutz from becoming the drummer's idol he should be. As we see later from 71-74 the drumming is exceptional. Listen to him roar through the Golden Road coda and the stick pops on Freind of Mine. Oftentimes two drummers muddy the sound especially two improv guys.Caboose is great and Alligator is smokin. Phil's hot and Pig's B3 is awsome too. Great stuff again. Let's get the downloads back.

That is a very good point "scenesof"

I've never heard a bad version of Golden Road.
All be it there's only a few.

There are any number of "Holy Grails" out there depending on the reviewer; for me~ this is it. This is the '67 performance that lives up to my imagination. The jam factor of hot & hungry musicians, the fun factor of a young irreverent dance-band, & the rich psychedelia of serious acid-rock pioneers. So great to hear a live Golden Road!, with spirited vocals by Jerry~ and then the transition into New Potato--a fully realized showpiece even here(why didn't they play it at Monterey...?)--is as seemlessly masterful as any they'd later be famous for as such transitions became trademark. And awesome Alligator!!! The "Alligator" vocal chorus is exuberant, and as this performance doesn't lead into Caution, it stands on its own as a vehicle for the manic musical exploration that ensues.
I love Mickey, but let no one tell me it became Grateful Dead music only with his joining. The proof's in the pudding, and here it is. You'll lick your spoon, guaranteed.
Billy is smoking, and while the sound quality isn't up to official release standards, the mix retains a richness nevertheless. Certainly no caveats here that should stand in your way from treating yourself to this vintage performance.

While this is not the best quality recording- it is not the worst- and it is good enough to hear that the Caboose at this show is face melting at its best- there are not many of these, so take a listen and enjoy

it's strange they didn't keep the Golden Road in their repertoire for longer as it's such an energetic little tune...

also, i am frequently amazed by the quality of Pig Pen's organ playing when it can be clearly attributed to him as on this show (pre TC)...which begs the question, why was TC always saying that the Dead made him play on a cheesy little vox organ when from the sound of this, a Hammond was in their arsenal of instrumentation? perhaps the Dead also made Phil wear that Prince Valiant haircut?

Aside from the songs, which are great, as usual, I'd like to comment on the Banter. I'm STILL laughing. These guys sound SO high on LSD. They do some FUNNY voice exercises at first and then they start telling the crowd to say things like fuck, dope, primape, and what? And I think it's Phil who says this really funny way of sayin what that reminds me of elmer fud. And then I think it's Phil who tells the crowd to say "OOOOOOOH No!" and he says that in a VERY VERY comic tone. It's absolutely gut busting, grateful dead good-ness. Thank god they dropped those tabs, otherwise this wouldn't have been as funny. Download this, if for nothing else but the banter!!

That stage banter is one that I have on a bootleg from college around 1981, but that recording was marred by us dubbing incorrectly so I missed "everybody say... fuck", and a couple others. So I have finally found it again. Yay!

I always remembered how incredible Golden Road -> New Potatoe and Alligator was. These songs? Live? From '67? You're killing me.

(Re: 6/15/67 date listed in Deadbase instead of 5/5/67, Deadbase says "actual date and location unknown", so hmmmm, who knows, but it is the exact same set list).

The sound quality still is marginal but the best available here for this transitional period. I agree with the "Havin' Fun" review and would add only that these selections are the first of what I consider "vintage" Dead material.

i looked at dead base and they said there were only 3 times the dead ever played Golden Road live. 3/18, 4/12, and 6/15 all in 1967. They don't say anything about a 5/5/67 show. If anyone knows something about this please post it. Other than that thi show was really good, although sound quality wasn't the best.

It is worth noting that in Blair Jackson's book called "Garcia" he says that Deadbase (regarded the official source of information on dead shows) attributes the first appearance of Alligator to being in early June at New York Cafe's Au Go-Go. Here it is may which clearly indicates differently. Strange yet groovy!

Some interesting moments here.
Nice version of He Was A Friend of Mine, unfortunately cut at the end but sounds like it was very near the end. Stage banter pretty amusing.
Short Golden Road but energetic. Highlights are New Potato Caboose and Alligator.
Sound is a little over saturated with bass but you can hear everybody pretty clearly and Phil was having a ball. Listen to him on the beginning of Alligator. Great vocals by the boys to end it. Sing it Phil!
All in all, worth having.